Kansas football doubled the size of its 2025 recruiting class Sunday when it earned the commitment of Malachi Curvey from Waukee, Iowa, a three-star athlete as assessed by Rivals and 247Sports and a four-star at On3.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Curvey could play on either side of the ball as a Jayhawk, as he has been variously assessed as a prospective tight end, outside linebacker or edge rusher during his recruitment.

“For now, I will start at linebacker,” he told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com. “Most schools were looking at me for edge/outside backer and some tight end. I prefer the offensive side, but I feel like defense comes more natural.”

The son of a former Iowa State lineman, Brent Curvey, he picked KU over schools including his father’s alma mater, as well as rivals Kansas State and Missouri. Offensive line coach Scott Fuchs, who recruits his region, had made the offer to Curvey back in April, according to Curvey’s X account.

He now joins David McComb, a quarterback from Edmond, Oklahoma, in KU’s 2025 class, as the program shifts its recruiting focus in that direction after locking down 17 freshman signees for 2024.

Curvey visited Lawrence over the summer for a camp, in November for the Sunflower Showdown and in December for the Border Showdown basketball game, per a recent interview with JayhawkSlant in which he said he was impressed by the atmospheres he witnessed.

“The visits were great at Kansas,” he told Kirby. “Things that stood out to me are just the way the staff works as a whole. They are all real people and care about their athletes. On top of that the new renovations will be done when I get there too. What really stood out to me is they are a ‘grind it out from the bottom’ program and they know what it takes to get to the top.”

In 2024, the Jayhawks have additional linebackers coming in ahead of Curvey in Jon Jon Kamara and JaCorey Stewart. They also have another hybrid prospect of sorts in Greydon Grimes, the son of new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, a tight end in theory who may end up on the defensive line in reality.